TRITONS TURN IN A THREE-PEAT PERFORMANCE IN CCAA TOURNAMENT TITLE GAME - Mar 10, 2019

HAYWARD, Calif. - Thrice is nice for the UC San Diego men's basketball team, the back-to-back-to-back CCAA Tournament champions after a 71-62 win over Cal Poly Pomona Saturday night at Pioneer Gymnasium.
The UC San Diego men and women both earned championship crowns Saturday, marking the first time in CCAA history that both basketball tournament titles went to the same school. The Tritons become the first team to garner a tournament three-peat since the '90s when Cal State Bakersfield took four titles in a row.
The 2018-19 matchup that pitted the Tritons against the Broncos was not only a rematch of the tournament title game last season, but also a meeting between this year's co-regular season champions. In the lone regular season matchup, Cal Poly Pomona got the better of UC San Diego as part of an impressive 14-game winning streak that stopped for the Broncos tonight.
Saturday the Tritons were on their a-game, shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half and swishing 5-of-7 from beyond the arc to build an 11-point advantage at the break. The Broncos cut the lead to five three minutes into the second after Dwight Ramos (6'4''-G) drove in for the score to cap a 6-0 run to open the period. The Tritons responded with a seven-point spurt of their own to again grow the lead to double figures, capped by a three from CCAA Player of the Year Chris Hansen (6'7''-C-96)
The Broncos yet again made it a two-possession game with 10 minutes to go after Phoenix Shackelford (6'2''-G) got a jumper to fall. UC San Diego again responded with gusto, putting the score at 61-46 after tournament Most Valuable Player Christian Bayne (6'2''-G) converted his and-1 opportunity with 4:48 remaining on the cloc
Despite playing a four-overtime game the night before, another run was in the legs of Cal Poly Pomona, scoring the next nine points to make it a six-point margin with just over two minutes to play. However, the Broncos could get no closer before UC San Diego closed the evening with the nine-point win to earn the CCAA's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Championship field for the third straight year.
Bayne led the way for the Tritons with 20 points including a 9-of-10 outing from the free throw line, while fellow all-tournament team selection and CCAA Newcomer of the Year Tyrell Roberts (5'11''-PG) added 17 and a 3-for-3 night from three while playing all 40 minutes of the contest. Hansen scored 13 points to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds to round out the UC San Diego double-digit scorers.
For the Broncos, Schaefer contributed a team-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting with nine rebounds and five steals. Now both the Broncos and Tritons await the selection committee's decision to learn their seeding and location for the remainder of postseason play.

CCAA Tournament Final: UC San Diego - Cal Poly Pomona 71-62
CCAA Tournament Semifinals:
UC San Diego - Cal State East Bay 72-68
Cal Poly Pomona - Cal State LA 102-99

Courtesy of goccaa.org